Author Tract: Difference between revisions

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** ''Pater Filucius'' was Busch's contribution to the ''Kulturkampf'', the period of intense conflict between Bismarck's government (supported by the Liberals) on one hand and the Catholic Church and its political arm, the Centre Party after the first Vatican Council declared the Pope to be infallible. Most characters in it are allegorical and have significant names. The German people had long been personified as ''der deutsche Michel'' ("German Mike"), rather like the British one was represented by John Bull, because St. Michael was Germany's patron saint. Father Filucius (from the French ''filou'', "crook") is a Jesuit, Gottlieb Michael's two maiden aunts Petrine and Pauline stand for the established Catholic and Protestant churches (the Pope tracing his authority to St. Peter, while Protestants place greater emphasis on the teachings of St. Paul. In the end, Gottlieb marries Angelica, signifying Wilhelm Busch recommending an "Anglican" solution to the centuries-old Catholic-Protestant divide in Germany.

* [[JLA: Act of God]] is entirely devoted to saying that Batman is right and the only way to fight crime is by being a normal vigilante with no special abilities. And also that superheroes are arrogant because only God should have power, it even goes so far as to have Wonder Woman {{spoiler|convert to Catholicism, in spite of her being an Amazon, who has met Greek gods before.}}

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== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

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* ''[[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]]'' is, in part, its author's attempt to teach lessons in rational thinking through the medium of ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' fanfiction.

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* Similar to and inspired by the above, ''[[Luminosity]]'' is designed to explain [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|luminosity]]—i.e., self-awareness.

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* "Harry Potter Turns to the Lord" is a fanfiction about a Gary Stu teaching Harry Potter that witchcraft is evil.

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* In ''[[Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes]]'', {{spoiler|King Zeal [[What the Hell, Hero?|calling out Crono and the party]] near the end}} could qualify as this, given the context.

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* Pretty much any time any fanfiction creates a [[Designated Villain]] based on the author's personal experiences/views/current events, it's getting into an author's tract. It can be excused in some cases, if it's related to the plot, but if it comes [[Ass Pull|out of the blue]] it looks like a giant lecture in the middle of an otherwise unrelated story.

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* Self-proclaimed libertarian PJ O'Rourke's ''Don't Vote - It Just Encourages The Bastards'' is a bit hammery with its fundamental message of "All politicians suck, but left-wing ones suck worse than right-wing ones".

* G. P. Taylor's book ''[[Shadowmancer]]'' is a heavy-handed attempt to get the reader to convert to Christianity. It's filled with [[Hollywood Atheist]]s. One of the characters, Raphah, is clearly an author mouthpiece who condemns all things the author dislikes such as witchcraft and coffee.

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== Newspaper Comics ==

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* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' (also the animated TV show version). Often expresses the feelings of Aaron McGruder on race, entertainment, religion, and politics. Be warned however, that some of that is also just Huey being Huey. This is subverted, however, by Huey being the character that often voices McGruder's beliefs, making it difficult to distinguish what the character thinks, and what the author thinks. Michael Caesar's role provides a bit of realism or [[Lampshade Hanging]] to make the tract less Anvilicious or provide a more temperate view.

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* Bill Watterson admitted that he wrote a lot of his troubles with the syndicate into ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', as well as his opinions on comics, film, TV, commercial and other industries, humans' role in nature, art, and general philosophy. Fortunately, he was a good enough author to not let it get in the way of characterization or humour.

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* ''[[Doonesbury]]'' is really just Gary Trudeau telling people what he thinks about politics day-in and day-out, with occasional asides for other things. In its later years, however, the comic has become as much about exploring the gigantic cast of characters' lives as it has about politics. In the beginning it focused almost entirely on humor about the college life of the (''much'' smaller cast of) main characters.

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* ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'' started out as an attempt at a standard, character-driven comic, but quickly devolved into a platform for the author to state his conservative opinions on various current events. More often than not, Mallard acts as an [[Author Avatar]] speaking directly to the reader.

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* ''[[Prickly City]]'' was sold to syndicates as [[A Boy and His X|"a girl and her coyote buddy"]] but turned into a conservative soapbox even faster than ''Mallard Fillmore.''

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* After its creator's conversion to born-again Christianity, ''[[BC]]'' became notorious for its pro-Christian sermonizing, including one infamous Easter strip showing a menorah transforming into a cross ([[Word of God]] (ahem) was that this was merely his way of expressing a new religion coming into its own). Which may seem weird given the apparent setting, but there was a story in around 2000 or so that puts forth the idea that the setting was not prehistoric but rather post-Rapture.

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** With Hart's grandson, Mason Mastroianni, in the writer's seat, the preachiness has been dropped and the strip has returned to gag-a-day format. There was a strip ("Hey, I found this paper from 2004...") that implies ''B.C.'' merely takes place [[After the End]].

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* Is it coincidence that the soapboxing quotient on ''[[Quincy]]'' increased as Jack Klugman got more script control? Er... no.

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== Stand Up Comedy ==

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* Dara Ó Briain has been known to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMvMb90hem8 rant about science] in a very entertaining manner.

⚫

* Bill Hicks' comedy routines were pretty much nothing but this trope. He liked challenging mainstream beliefs on society, religion, politics and pop culture, often in a deliberately controversial way.

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* [[George Carlin]]'s later concerts have tended to include at least one section that comes across as not so much comedy as a rant to the effect that "the very concept of religion, and in particular Christianity, is inherently illogical and overbureaucratic."

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** Overall George Carlin's career can be summed up as starting out as "guy telling obscene jokes with a lot of profanity with witty observations sprinkled throughout" and ending up as "grumpy old man standing on stage bitching about the stuff he hates".

== Music ==

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* [[Woody Guthrie]] [[wikipedia:Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti|wrote an entire album]] protesting the bias that was shown in the landmark Sacco and Vanzetti trial, which took place about 20 years prior.

⚫

== Newspaper Comics ==

⚫

* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' (also the animated TV show version). Often expresses the feelings of Aaron McGruder on race, entertainment, religion, and politics. Be warned however, that some of that is also just Huey being Huey. This is subverted, however, by Huey being the character that often voices McGruder's beliefs, making it difficult to distinguish what the character thinks, and what the author thinks. Michael Caesar's role provides a bit of realism or [[Lampshade Hanging]] to make the tract less Anvilicious or provide a more temperate view.

⚫

* Bill Watterson admitted that he wrote a lot of his troubles with the syndicate into ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', as well as his opinions on comics, film, TV, commercial and other industries, humans' role in nature, art, and general philosophy. Fortunately, he was a good enough author to not let it get in the way of characterization or humour.

⚫

* ''[[Doonesbury]]'' is really just Gary Trudeau telling people what he thinks about politics day-in and day-out, with occasional asides for other things. In its later years, however, the comic has become as much about exploring the gigantic cast of characters' lives as it has about politics. In the beginning it focused almost entirely on humor about the college life of the (''much'' smaller cast of) main characters.

⚫

* ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'' started out as an attempt at a standard, character-driven comic, but quickly devolved into a platform for the author to state his conservative opinions on various current events. More often than not, Mallard acts as an [[Author Avatar]] speaking directly to the reader.

⚫

* ''[[Prickly City]]'' was sold to syndicates as [[A Boy and His X|"a girl and her coyote buddy"]] but turned into a conservative soapbox even faster than ''Mallard Fillmore.''

⚫

* After its creator's conversion to born-again Christianity, ''[[BC]]'' became notorious for its pro-Christian sermonizing, including one infamous Easter strip showing a menorah transforming into a cross ([[Word of God]] (ahem) was that this was merely his way of expressing a new religion coming into its own). Which may seem weird given the apparent setting, but there was a story in around 2000 or so that puts forth the idea that the setting was not prehistoric but rather post-Rapture.

⚫

** With Hart's grandson, Mason Mastroianni, in the writer's seat, the preachiness has been dropped and the strip has returned to gag-a-day format. There was a strip ("Hey, I found this paper from 2004...") that implies ''B.C.'' merely takes place [[After the End]].

⚫

== Stand Up Comedy ==

⚫

* Dara Ó Briain has been known to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMvMb90hem8 rant about science] in a very entertaining manner.

⚫

* Bill Hicks' comedy routines were pretty much nothing but this trope. He liked challenging mainstream beliefs on society, religion, politics and pop culture, often in a deliberately controversial way.

⚫

* [[George Carlin]]'s later concerts have tended to include at least one section that comes across as not so much comedy as a rant to the effect that "the very concept of religion, and in particular Christianity, is inherently illogical and overbureaucratic."

⚫

** Overall George Carlin's career can be summed up as starting out as "guy telling obscene jokes with a lot of profanity with witty observations sprinkled throughout" and ending up as "grumpy old man standing on stage bitching about the stuff he hates".

== Theatre ==

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** Matt Groening himself said that one of his favorite things about ''The Simpsons'' was how inaccurately and demonically they got to portray nuclear power.

⚫

== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

⚫

* ''[[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]]'' is, in part, its author's attempt to teach lessons in rational thinking through the medium of ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' fanfiction.

⚫

* Similar to and inspired by the above, ''[[Luminosity]]'' is designed to explain [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|luminosity]]—i.e., self-awareness.

⚫

* "Harry Potter Turns to the Lord" is a fanfiction about a Gary Stu teaching Harry Potter that witchcraft is evil.

⚫

* In ''[[Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes]]'', {{spoiler|King Zeal [[What the Hell, Hero?|calling out Crono and the party]] near the end}} could qualify as this, given the context.

⚫

* Pretty much any time any fanfiction creates a [[Designated Villain]] based on the author's personal experiences/views/current events, it's getting into an author's tract. It can be excused in some cases, if it's related to the plot, but if it comes [[Ass Pull|out of the blue]] it looks like a giant lecture in the middle of an otherwise unrelated story.